earners. In three of the Southern states-Alabama, North Carolina and South Carolina-nearly 19 per cent. of all wage earners in the industry in 1909 were children under 16 years of age. In Massachusetts, the leading state in the industry, however, only 5.7 per cent. were children. Practically one-half (50.4 per cent.) of the wage earners employed in the cotton manufacturing industry in 1909 were in establishments where the prevailing hours of labor were between 54 and 60 per week, and nearly one-third (31.5 per cent.) were employed in establishments where the hours were 60 per week." About one-fifth of all the cotton mill workers in three southern states are children less than 16 years old! This is the more significant since not one of these states has a 14 year limit and a large number of the children are below that age. A CONSERVA- Last summer when the Georgia bill still hung in the balance, the New York Times said: "The cotton manufacturers of the South have resented the frequently made charge that they are ruthlessly exploiting children. They have secured several official reports to the effect that a good deal is done for the young "hands" in the way of teaching, and that their conditions and surroundings in the mills, if not exactly ideal, are better than they were in the isolated cabins where most of them lived before the new industry was provided for themselves and their parents. The general accuracy of these reports, as presenting one and the better side of the case, has not been seriously impugned, but of course the fact remains that child labor, in spite of the ameliorations compelled by its antagonists and everywhere reluctantly adopted by those who profit by it-including the parents-is bad for the little workers and bad for the race of which they are such an important part. That it is not as bad as something else does not earn commendation and is a poor excuse.” FACTS AND One is surprised by the kind of articles that sometimes find their way into magazines of the highest class: articles without any basis of fact upon which to hang their conclusions. The reader will see that the article from the Outlook to which Dr. McKelway makes reply in this issue is one of this class, and it would not be considered necessary to make an answer to its contentions except for the impression of authority that it carries because of the publication in which it was printed. However, there is a constructive side of child labor reform in which the National Child Labor Committee thoroughly believes and which needs to be presented as a general answer to the idea industriously circulated that the National Child Labor Committee's work is of a wholly negative character. The reply to Mr. Stratton's article meets this accusation and we print it for that reason. The death of Edgar Gardner Murphy last summer has brought home to us the fact that the first stage in child labor reform is PASSING OF passed. It was Mr. Murphy who pricked the conscience of the country alive to the existence of child labor as a shame and a curse to America. In those days, a majority of all states allowed young children to work unlimited hours in factories. The most advanced states ten years ago had hardly reached the standard already adopted by the majority of states to-day. Mr. Murphy's special work is done; the public is alive to the situation and child labor has no defenders except a few employers who imagine that their self-interest demands a perpetuation of the system. And they feel obliged to justify their defense of it by an ingenious array of specious arguments concerning the benefits that early work confers upon the child. This is in itself a significant change. Moreover, laws have been so improved that except in certain spots of which the country is well aware and deeply ashamed the spectacular horrors are almost gone. Without Mr. Murphy's pioneer work this would not have been possible. All our members will be interested in knowing the part played by Mr. Murphy in organizing the National Child Labor Committee, therefore we reprint in this volume a letter written by Mr. Lovejoy at the time of Mr. Murphy's death and published in the New York Evening Post. THE LONG But with the passing of the worst physical dangers there comes a new and even more important appeal from the dangers that remain and threaten the very fibre and essence of our nation. The body is not ready at fourteen years to submit without injury to monotonous and taxing employment. The mind is not developed to meet the problems of the tangled injustices of the industrial world or the call of intelligent citizenship. Character is not yet formed, and to remove from wise guidance and the idealism, which with all their faults the schools can give far better than the outside world, children who are at the most critical period of their development, is to court moral disaster. The results measured in terms of "efficiency" are already evident and have started the demand for industrial education, which is merely another phase of our own special problem. CHILD LABOR January 25th and 26th will be Child Labor Days. We are asking the clergymen who observe Child Labor Day to lay especial stress this year on street trading, a form of child labor which has been almost entirely unregulated hitherto, because of the fallacious tradition that it is a useful and beneficial occupation for children. People are just beginning to realize that it is scarcely more perilous for girls than it is for boys to sell papers, peddle gum, guide beggars, black shoes, tend stands or engage in any other form of street trading. Not only do children who work thus out of school hours gradually fall behind in their studies and reach a limit of mental capacity lower than the promise of their earlier years, but physically and morally they suffer positive harm. Taking the newsboy as perhaps the most familiar type of street trader, the downward path would be something like this. When a boy begins to earn he feels himself independent of parental authority, and in many cases breaks away from all restraint. He pockets and spends much or all of the money he takes in; the widowed mother whom his industry is keeping from a pauper's dole has been the rare exception in all localities studied. Not that there are no boys whose homes are wretchedly poor, but their earnings go to "movies," craps, and cigarettes oftener than to the family treasury. A newsboy's companions are demoralizing and his trade often takes him in and out of saloons and evil resorts with a freedom not permitted to other boys. Pretty soon he hears of the "big money" boys make selling late at night, for a "drunk" seldom waits for change and a stranger tips generously the boy who guides him to the haunts of the underworld. We recommend a 14 year age limit for boys in street trades and an 18 year limit for girls as the next and most necessary step in the protection of working children. But this is a temporary measure, to be adopted only until the public realizes the truth of the assertion that street trading is an extra-hazardous employment that should be forbidden to boys, as well as girls, under 18 years. ANNUAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL CHILD LABOR COMMITTEE for the Ninth Fiscal Year, ending September 30, 1913. by Owen R. Lovejoy, General Secretary. Two notable advances have been made in standards of protection for working children during the ninth year of the National Child Labor Committee: 1. Adoption of a Children's Code in Ohio, the first state to codify its laws relating to children. This Code fixes a minimum age limit for employment at 15 years for boys and 16 years for girls. 2. Enactment of law in Massachusetts limiting the hours of labor for children under 16 years to 8 per day. Fourteen other states already had this law, but Massachusetts is the first commonwealth in the world with cotton textile manufacturing as the leading industry, to establish so high a standard. The reorganization of several state Departments of Factory Inspection and enactment of laws to provide state relief for widows are also significant. I. SUMMARY OF CHILD LABOR LEGISLATION. All state legislatures were in session except in seven states: Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Virginia. A brief summary of the laws enacted follows: ARKANSAS.-Department of Labor established to inspect factories and enforce labor laws. Commissioner and Deputy appointed and $4,500 appropriated. 2 CALIFORNIA.-Child labor law passed, transferring the issuing of special permits for children 12-15 years of age from the courts to school authorities, and extending the 8 hour day to include all workers under 18 years. Industrial Welfare Commission of five persons (including at least one woman) to be appointed by the Governor to investigate wages and conditions of women and minors. The Commission is empowered |